Professional Carers Support Service 6 Elizabeth House Unit 31 Royal Elizabeth Yard Kirkliston EH29 9EN Telephone: 0131 319 1968 Type of inspection: Announced (short notice) Inspection completed on: 2 May 2017 Service provided by: Professional Carers (Wirral) Ltd Service provider number: SP2015012481 Care service number: CS2015336898
About the service Professional Carers is a family run business, with its headquarters (and main operation) in the north-west of England. This service was registered with the Care Inspectorate in July 2015 to provide a support service (care at home) to adults and older people with physical and learning disabilities; sensory impairment; mental health problems including dementia, living in their own homes and in the community. The service is managed from an office base in Kirkliston, on the outskirts of Edinburgh and is currently delivered to clients in South Queensferry, Ratho and Kirkliston. The service has a registered manager, a care coordinator, two senior carers and a team of care workers. The aims of the service are: - To support clients to maintain their independence and quality of life. - To deliver a service of the highest quality that will improve and sustain the client's overall quality of life. - To respect each client's right to independence, privacy, dignity, fulfilment, and the rights to make informed choices. - To ensure that each client's needs and values are respected in matters of religion, culture, race or ethnic origin, sexuality and sexual orientation, political affiliation, marital status, parenthood and disabilities or barriers. - To identify, train and match carers as closely as possible with the client, in order to meet their needs. - To work in partnership with clients to develop staff members to become experts in meeting their needs in a manner that the client wants. What people told us Prior to the inspection we asked the service to distribute Care Standards Questionnaires to service users. We received five responses. During the inspection we met eight service users and two relatives. The majority told us they were very happy with the service and with their care staff. One service user and their relative were happy for us to take up a number of matters directly with the manager. The manager was confident that these could be resolved to suit all parties. She agreed to bring forward a review of care. Comments included: "They look after us very well." page 2 of 7
"I'm well cared for." "My support plan tells people about me and what I like. Staff know how to support me. They are very friendly and confident at their jobs. They are very helpful with forms. They let me be as independent as I can. They let me wash where I can manage and the carers wash and dry me where I can't reach. They tidy up the shower room afterwards. I am happy enough with the amount of time the carers spend with me. I can't fault them. I feel safe with the service. I am OK with staff changes as I am very used to new carers coming into my home. They are all professional, very nice and very understanding. They send out reviews and visit to see how I am. The service I have had so far has been excellent." "Allows me to get the house tidied up without interruptions and allows me to get in shopping while (relative) is away which is a lot easier. The four carers have all been very kind and friendly. The service arranged to arrive earlier one day of the week (to fit with our needs)." "The service is great. I can't fault them at all. The service makes me feel at ease. The support plan is filled in or they contact by text or phone if mum needs me or if they think I should be advised of anything. I know mum is in safe hands while the carers are dealing with her, which helps me. The staff treat mum well. Staff can only do what is possible in the time allocated but they have it worked out perfectly. The service is excellent. It is not very often that I am unhappy with anything but I just put a note in the personal plan or phone the office and things are sorted out straight away." "The service rushes too much to allow for independence. More basic training is required for staff. It takes a long time to adapt to a different person. I am not particularly happy but not exactly unhappy at the moment." We contacted two professionals for their views of the service. Comments included: "I have found Professional carers positive and communicative in helping with outcomes with a client, in terms of improving mobility. I found staff generally knowledgeable and the manager has been available by phone when needed." Self assessment We did not ask the service to provide an up-date to their self assessment this time. From this inspection we graded this service as: Quality of care and support Quality of staffing Quality of management and leadership 5 - Very Good not assessed 5 - Very Good What the service does well The service had gradually expanded during 2016. Key information about the service, including policies, was given to people when commencing the service. We were satisfied that people were fully involved in directing how they wanted to be supported. We saw good page 3 of 7
quality care documentation including support plans which identified people's aspirations, risk management and progress towards achieving their goals. We saw a good level of detailed, specific information about how each person was to be supported. The service maintained good daily records, monitoring records and records of review meetings. Care plans were kept up to date to meet the person's current needs. We saw that there was very regular communication between people, families, staff and the office. Requests and feedback was acted upon. The service demonstrated a very good degree of flexibility and responsiveness and support was adapted when people's needs and choices changed. The service was effective and contributed to very good outcomes for service users. These included: staying safe and well as a result of the service liaising with family and with other agencies when needed, including the fire service and housing, getting new medication very swiftly (the same day) through prompt reporting of a change in health by care staff, getting the correct medication when care staff noticed and reported a dispensing error. receiving sensitive care at the end of life, taking the wishes and needs of family members into account so that all parties would benefit, finding solutions to cuts to care package arrangements, invitations to occasional social/fundraising events. People received consistent care and support from staff members that knew them well. Spot checks were carried out to ensure visits took place as scheduled. The service was aware that the way in which support was delivered contributed to people's quality of life. We saw that staff were respectful and compassionate, encouraging people to maintain as much independence as possible. Care practices were rights based and in keeping with the principles of the new care standards, available at: http://www.newcarestandards.scot/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ncs-principles-feb-2016.pdf Arrangements were in place to manage people's medicines safely which included staff training. Staff knew their responsibility to report poor care practice or suspicion of harm and were confident that the manager would liaise with the relevant authorities in order to protect people. There were effective quality monitoring systems in place to assure the quality of the service. Staff performance was monitored to ensure that their practice met the expected standards. Staff felt supported and worked very well together. The service had acted on the recommendation and all of the suggestions made at the previous inspection, for instance: polices and procedures had been revised to take account of the Scottish context and good practice; the manager had attended adult support and protection training at level 2 and 3 provided by the Council. The service had notified the Care Inspectorate of reportable events. Since the last inspection the manager had commenced SVQ 4 in health and social care in order to meet a registration requirement of the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) and hoped to complete this by early autumn 2017. The provider had introduced a new electronic recording system which would improve management oversight and audit of care. page 4 of 7
The owner, manager and staff demonstrated dedication to the client group and eagerness to keep developing and improving the service. What the service could do better We made a number of suggestions to help the service maintain its high standard of care, including: More detailed records of service user outcomes. The SSSC's Apps: 'Understanding Dementia' and 'Personal Outcomes for a Person with Dementia' may be useful resources, available at: http://learningzone.workforcesolutions.sssc.uk.com/course/view.php?id=41 and http://learningzone.workforcesolutions.sssc.uk.com/course/view.php?id=39 Logging service user issues /requests which have been resolved to track and evidence the responsiveness of the service. More regular team meetings for staff to share what is working well and discussion of developments in good practice. Preparing staff to register with the SSSC as care workers (care at home) from autumn 2017. Exploring SSSC training resources, such as 'Open Badges'. Setting out an 'Improvement Plan', to include all of the planned developments, which could be shared with service users (newsletter) and with staff. Requirements Number of requirements: 0 Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0 Complaints There have been no complaints upheld since the last inspection. Details of any older upheld complaints are published at www.careinspectorate.com. Inspection and grading history Date Type Gradings 20 Jul 2016 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good Environment Not assessed Staffing 4 - Good page 5 of 7
Date Type Gradings Management and leadership 4 - Good page 6 of 7
To find out more This inspection report is published by the Care Inspectorate. You can download this report and others from our website. Care services in Scotland cannot operate unless they are registered with the Care Inspectorate. We inspect, award grades and help services to improve. We also investigate complaints about care services and can take action when things aren't good enough. Please get in touch with us if you would like more information or have any concerns about a care service. You can also read more about our work online at www.careinspectorate.com Contact us Care Inspectorate Compass House 11 Riverside Drive Dundee DD1 4NY enquiries@careinspectorate.com 0345 600 9527 Find us on Facebook Twitter: @careinspect Other languages and formats This report is available in other languages and formats on request. Tha am foillseachadh seo ri fhaighinn ann an cruthannan is cànain eile ma nithear iarrtas. page 7 of 7